Posts!

Another entertaining day in paradise. As you can see it does include discovering that the clubhouse in front of the marina has Interwebs connection, so I was able to post all of my updates.

Today was another great day of shopping, good food and interesting sights. The plan tomorrow is to do a bit more exploring of the island in the morn. Then when high tide hits at 3:30 we'll exit the marina and head around the island to a place where we'll anchor and spend the eve. Then come the following morning we'll set sail for Ko Lippi. I'm told that this is where the diving is excellent. Given that I haven't actually been in the water yet here, I'm ecstatic about that prospect. Course that also means that now that I've discovered an interwebs connection I'll once again be leaving it, so you may only get one more update at most before we exit again for awhile. But I'll continue blogging as we go and post them once we return to the world wide web. Till then, hope you folks enjoy the posts above!

Night in Langkawi

Dad has a motorcycle here. Actually looks more like a very large motor scooter, but it does well getting from point A to B. this morn we nabbed it and went to do some quick groceries, including some amazing chocolate. There are stores here that sell nothing but different kinds of chocolate, oddly including American brands that are far superior to what the sell in the states. It is sad that Hershey's can make such good chocolate, but then waters it down with wax for the US.

 This eve we rented a car and Crys, Barb, Tams and Rio took  the car while Dad and I took the cycle. We first headed to the fruit stand, a which contained a wide variety of tasty fruits. Then we wondered off to the grocery store to stock supplies so that when we do take off for Ko Lippi and wherever else we wind up we'll have plenty of food. As we pulled out back onto the road I noticed a business across the street entitled "Crystal's Yacht Vacations". How fitting. 

     From there it was food time! We had eaten very little today aside from some toast, chocolate, and a piece of apple with a piece of cheese. Consequently we we ravenous as we headed for Dad's recommendation, a place on the other side of the island in a more touristy district. We pulled in a walked through to discover the restaurant was on a beautiful sugar sand beach. Literally. Our table was in the sand. It also had a wonderful view of the sunset. Not a bad place to kill an evening at all. Dad and Tams ordered some German beers, which I'm told the place is renowned for. Not being a beer drinker myself I decided to try the hard English cider listed.  Sadly I was informed they were out, so decided to go with the Lon Island ice tea instead. Wow. A tall glass was delivered that was short on sweet & sour and heavy on everything else. The fresh lime and cherry in it mad it extremely refreshing. For dinner I went with a parmesan and cheese crusted fillet of fish, garlic toast, and a tomato salad in balsamic vinaigrette. I do not know what kind of fish was served, but I can safely say it was high among the best fish dishes I have ever tasted. Clean, white, flaky with an amazing breading. The toast was also quite tasty. That salad... Well I'll give them props for truth in advertising. I expected a salad with tomatoes. Instead they delivered a salad of tomatoes. That is pretty much all it was. Kinda odd. Everyone else raved an out their own choice of dishes, and we finished up with a few deserts to share. Dad and Tami grabbed a very tasty Tierra messou, Barb and Rio tried some chocolate ice cream, and Crys and I shared a dish that essentially tasted like a coconut flan with a fruit topping. 

  The trip back on the back of that bike got down right brisk at times, but it was an awesome way to view the island. We had a couple of interesting moments, one when an on coming car decided it needed our lane worse than we did. We luckily whipped past it, but it definitely caused me to catch my breath. The other came when we passed a small heard of water buffalo meandering along the side of the road so close that I could smell them. For those interested, water buffalo smell virtually identical to other cattle. One other odd note was when dad pointed out the name of a hotel as we passed it. It was spelled as the "Citin Hotel". Not noticeable till you think about the facts that in the local language C is always pronounced CH and I is always pronounced EE, to the name would be pronounced as the " Cheeteen Hotel". Wonder if they rent rooms by the hour?

Everyone else decided to crash after arriving, but I think the near 10hrs I got last night actually caught me up, so instead I'm catching up on my posts while laying on the netting that connects between the two hulls at the front of the Silke. For all practical purposes it is like being on a huge hammock spread above the sea water. A gentle breeze is blowing, the moon is near full, the sky is clear and full of stars and my earbuds are playing a variety of my favorite tunes. There are worse places to be. Life is good. Lets see what tomorrow brings!

Gaining Sea Legs

We've been at the boats for over 24 hrs at this point. Most of our time has been spent in the Silkie. It is surprisingly roomy, though of course being a boat everything is compact. I'll try and do a video some time soon, as it is hard to do it justice with pictures. It is about 91 during the day. Hot and humid, though if the wind is blowing and you find some shade it's really nice. They tell me when you are actually sailing, which we should do tomorrow or the next day, it's really nice. The eves are beautiful. 70's with a cool wind blowing off the sea. 

We're currently staying in the marina the boats are based out of, which dad describes as a "high class redneck trailer court". The boats are all yachts, ranging from $50k to millions of dollars in value. The people are an eclectic mix ranging from old money to new rich,  tech millionaires, well off retirees and apparently the occasional celeb. It is a winding maze of docks and the boats within are as eclectic as the owners. My step sister Tami and her daughter Rio are staying in the Lady Kathleen, which is parked right next to us. 

Crys felt a little woozy the first day on the boat but appears to have gained her sea legs pretty quickly. She laughed about glancing out the window this morning and seeing the dock drifting up and down and suddenly realizing "oh my god we're moving" and reaching to stabilize herself. She then realized as long as she paid no attention to the window she no longer noticed the movement and had no need to stabilize herself at all. Given that she tends to get a bit motion sick at times I was a little concerned for her, but I'm happy to see she's doing we'll with it. It's one of those things you really don't know until you just do it.

Note that I continue to write these not know how long it will be until I post them. Dad has a travel modem, but Barb took it on her trip to Thailand and has been unable to locate it since. It may be on the boat in a bag, or may be in Thailand still. This has lead to the unusual side effect of being completely cut off from the real world. It is an odd but not entirely unpleasant sensation. I'll no doubt have a lot to catch up on when I return to the interwebs!

On Ferries and ports

The ferry was about a bout a 90ft or so, two stories with a half shaded deck on back. The interior had a dank smell, grungy windows, comfortable airplane style seats, good air conditioning and a Tony Jaa martial arts film playing on the TV. The outside deck had a very nice view of the passing islands, which look the part of green covered mountains jutting out of the sea. There were rare fish sightings where what appeared to be a Bonita would leap out of the water two to four times in a row before disappearing again beneath the small waves. This view was combined with the interesting aural combination of fresh sea air, cigarette smoke, and diesel fumes. We'd been told the trip would take about an hour and a half or so, however the winds must have been more favorable than expected as we actually made it in about 45 minutes.  

  We disembarked at Langkawi port, a hustling and bustling combination of an airport immigrations and shopping mall. Apparently immigrations at the prior had merely checked us out on Thailand, leaving us sort of nation less while on the ferry. Now we were being checked back in to Malaysia. A few quick stamps and we moved through, passing customs with a quick nod from the guards. We loaded our bags into a couple of carts and took off down the road for the marina.   

Thai Trekking

So, first off we discovered you actually can sleep two to a bunk if you're good with being cozy. After a couple of trips to the bathroom Crystal decided that climbing up and down was less than interesting and crawled in with me instead. We managed to sleep the rest of the night in a shared bunk, with me waking at daybreak and spending the next hour staring out the window as Thailand passed again. We saw some of the largest rice paddies I had ever seen, along with a few palm oil plantations. I could have sworn that I also saw a few elephants outlined in the dim light, but never saw one in the open, so I can't be positive it wasn't a trick of the light. Saw a few more temples hidden in the trees and on the mountains, optimal places to expect Buddhist temples. As we closed in closer to Malaysia the number of mosques also increased, though the ones we saw tended more towards the functional look than the ornate. 

We arrived in Hat Yai around 9:00. We hit the ground on a dead run, trying to reach Satun in time for the early ferry. Hat Yai station was a reasonable size, but far smaller to what we encountered in Bangkok. It was more of a large way station than the full hub our prior one had been. After exiting, we took off across the street to a small hole in the wall with a taxi sign outside. There Barbara bargained for a taxi to take us to Satun, settling finally on a price of 1600 baht. This means an hour and a half drive through the Thai countryside cost us half of what it cost Crys and I to get from the airport, 20 minutes from the hotel. If only I'd known then how much you could bargain for those things!

The drive was nice. Hat Yai appears to be a very large city, with far fewer tourist than Bangkok hosts. Most of the signs were in Thai, which meant I had zero idea what any of them said. The road ranged from small blacktop to small highway, from busting cityscape to unspoiled looking jungle. There was an issue when we finally arrived in Satun with the fact that our driver wanted to drop us off at a tour booking place, and didn't speak any English at all. We finally threw enough words back and forth to get him to understand we needed to go to the port and catch the ferry. 

The port was small, and after arriving we discovered that due to the train's late arrival in Hat Yai we had missed the morning ferry. So we arrived at around 11am to discover we needed to wait until 1:30 to leave.  By this time the small breakfast we had eaten on the train had worn off, so we wondered into the dining area to see what we could find. The Muslim ladies running the cooking area were speaking Malay, which is extremely similar to Indonesian. It was good to be back in an area where I could understand at least some of what was said around me! Thai is a very tonal language, and it has proven tricky so far for me to even remember basic words. Indonesian I find I pick back up the basics every time I'm around it, which is nice.

  Lunch for me was a fish drop soup and some rice. Crys had a lime coconut milk soup that was tasty as well. We finished up with some cold drinks for desert, iced coffee for Crys and Barb and a strawberry smoothly for me. With that we prepared to say good by to Thailand. 

   Or so we thought. We made it through immigrations and were hauling our bags towards the gate when Barb realized she didn't know where she had placed her ticket. She did a mad search of her pockets and bags to no avail. We made a brief attempt to convince the ticket collectors to let her on anyway, to no avail. No ticket no ride. So with 15 minutes left before we set sail, Barb trucked frantically back towards the ticket office to plead her case. She had her receipt and there was only one lady selling the tickets, so she knew Barbara had purchased a ticket. Apparently there are no protocols in place for lost boarding passes. At $10 a piece Barb would would have been happy to just buy another, however the ticket lady was insistent there was probably another way. With less than five minutes left until departure, Barbara was growing ever more frantic, as we're Crys and I, who were waiting at the entry ramp with our stuff, hoping we would not be forced to hang out another few hours till the next ferry. Finally we saw Barb come rushing up the path, sheepishly admitting that at the last moment she realized she had placed her boarding pass in the edge of her bra and had then proceeded to forget about it. She handed over the pass, we boarded the ferry and were finally departing for Malaysia. 

On the Night Train

Dinner wasn't bad. An egg drop soup, some curry, a sweet and sour dish with rice, chicken, and veggies (the pickles in there were an odd but tasty choice) and some apple slices. 

While we did not have an angle to watch the sun set, we had a perfect view to watch a dark orange full moon rise. When we passed a rice paddy it created an absolutely stunning reflection. The remaining view has of course become somewhat more limited.  

The towns are lit up, but the rest of the time our view is primarily restricted to tree silhouettes against the night sky.  Since things have started winding down we had the crew come make the bunks up. Crys took the top and I the bottom. Aside from being too small to sleep both us next to each other, they are surprisingly comfy. It is 9pm local time now, so ill probably try and crash soon. Want to be up long before our mid morning arrival time. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep as we trek on through the night. 

Watching the world go by

We're sitting on a train watching Thailand pass by. It is phenomenal. 

We left the hotel around one o'clock. We stepped out onto the street, where Barbara proceeded to negotiate passage to the train station with a series of taxies. Apparently they don't like using the meters much, preferring to just set a fixed price. 

The trek there was probably only about twenty minutes long, but gave a good view of just how large Bangkok really is. Several times we passed views that were nothing but huge buildings sprawled in every direction. In many ways it again reminded me of New York. 

We arrived at the train station with about two and a half hours to kill prior to our train leaving. This was pretty easy to do, as there were several cool little shops scattered about to look at, as well as an insanely diverse collection of people to watch. There was a large group of monks, Arabs, Malaysians, locals, Europeans of all kinds, and three burly Russian guys who asked us to take their picture for them. The station itself as you can see was huge, and nice to roam about. 

Barb suggested that just before we left we grab some KFC to take with us. So we did, and brought it on the train for lunch. There were some chicken wings in there made with lime and Thai chilies. Wow. Good thing KFC in the states doesn't have those or we would have to eat there more often. 

When the train itself arrived we found we were in the very back car. We dragged our suitcases up (with help from one of the guards) and found ourselves walking down a tiny corridor barely wider than the suitcases we were dragging behind us. We quickly found our rooms. We chose first class accommodations, which are private rooms about five foot wide a eight foot long. They contain very wide and comfortable couches, along with a tiny sink. We were hooked up with adjoining rooms, so a wide door now stands open between our area and Barb's. all of this, along with two meals a piece apparently set us back 200 baht in total. That comes in a little less than $65 on the current exchange rate. If only we could travel like this in the US so cheap!  

Large windows allow us to watch the world pass by us. We've watched large cities, small villages, and open countryside move by. Many temples, ranging from small shrines to large beautifully ornate complexes to gaudy and garish complexes are scattered everywhere. We've seen houses that look very western, others massively big or extremely small (including one building that appeared to be a thatch hut). We've seen sprawling rice patties filled with water buffalo and large oddly shaped mountains hiding in the haze on the horizon. We've also passed over some beautiful rivers, as well as a couple of muddy scary looking ones. This is definitely a great way to travel. As Crystal has said, the only real issue is not being able to stop and look at anything as you zoom past. 

They will be by soon with dinner, and the sun is now setting. When we are ready they will come through and turn the couch into bunks where we will sleep tonight. I look forward to more of this trek.  

Quick view of the morning

Okay, getting ready to leave the hotel. Crys is taking a quick shower. We walked down to Starbucks for coffee and tea this morn, since the local place Barb had tried yesterday was apparently less than stellar. Had a "Very Berry Hibiscus Tea" that was most excellent. Then wondered about the local market place for a little while before stopping to break our fast at a tiny hole in the wall that served Bangladeshi and Thai food. Had some kind of shrimp fried rice noodle dish myself. First bite was odd, very nutty with some unusual spices. Like so often happens with unusual tasting foods, the more I ate the tastier it became. Crys grabbed some kind of cashew chicken dish that she seemed to enjoy as well.
   Now we'll be getting out of here in about twenty minutes and heading for the train station. Recommendation is to get there early if you want the better cars. I believe the train pulls out at 2:45 local time (about 1:45am CST). We'll get there about two hours early, but I'm told there are decent places to explore around there. Unfortunately one of us will have to stay and guard the bags, but we can take turns doing that between the three of us. Should be fun based on what I've heard!

BTW, just noticed my google info has switched languages to Thai. Don't think I'll be learning to read it this trip...

Morning World. Last day in Bangkok for abit

Alright, managed to stay awake till close to 10, then sleep through till just after 7 (with only a few wake ups in between). Jetlag going this way hasn't been quite so bad.

Observations from the night:

We went for lebanese food. The restaurant was about a mile away, so we walked some more through a the bustling street market that erupts around here after dark. Stalls once again sell everything from clothes to magnets to electronics to nude paintings on black velvet to odd sex toys. Quite the combination. You'll also spot a wide selection of transvestites dressed in short miniskirts hanging out through out the market. Most of the stores remain open as well, which range from Star Bucks to a women's accessories shop called oddly "The Pink Pvssy".

The restaurant itself was very tasty. They had houkahs for rent, which tempted Crys. In the end she decided it might mess with her quitting smoking and passed it up. We ordered some hummus, nan, falafel, and shish kabob. The Nan was the best I've had. The hummus had an odd flavor, some extra spice I'm not used to, but it grew on you and was very enjoyable. The Shish kabob came with a green dipping sauce that had a serious bite to it, but was definitely full of flavor. Good recommendation all the way and worth the walk down.

Now we prepare for a new day. The plan appears to be leaving for the train around 1:30 today and it leaving for parts south around 2:45. No idea when we'll come across interenet access again, so I'll post more updates when we get the opportunity (unless we get some interesting adventures in this morning :)

It's 6pm local time. So far, jet lag is doing far less damage to me than normal. Could be that I actually managed to sleep until 7:30 this morn, or that I've been in the sun much of the day and moving. Of course, we're about half an hour or so from sunset, so we'll see exactly how I do after that. It's 5am local time, so I could get some sinking spells soon if I'm not careful (I'm avoiding laying on the bed just in case...).

We went and got a bit of food this morn to kick things off. Would like to have gotten something more local, but there was a Subway sandwich shop just outside our front door that Barbara suggested, and after having had nothing but airline food the previous day I was ready for anything at that point. Pretty much exactly what you would have expected from the U.S.

Then we took off for our shopping expedition. We took the tram down, which is for all practical purposes an above ground subway. Got pretty used to travelling that way on our New York trip, so this isn't bad. You have to get coins and buy a ticket each way, but to go from here (Nana) to Ma Chit (which is the last stop is 40 Baht, which is roughly $1.30 or so. Not bad. Certainly better than what we got hit up for last night.

We went and got a bit of food this morn to kick things off. Would like to have gotten something more local, but there was a Subway sandwich shop just outside our front door that Barbara suggested, and after having had nothing but airline food the previous day I was ready for anything at that point. Pretty much exactly what you would have expected from the U.S.

The weekend market, as alluded to in an earlier post, is a massive collection of stalls, both indoor and outdoor, that sell pretty much everything under the sun. I get the feeling we saw maybe half of it (maybe). There were massive amounts of clothes ranging from local wear to suits to t-shirts, many of which sported american cultural pieces (though some were older cultural pieces, I was surprised how many 80's bands had shirts for sale...). I managed to get some more of the shirts I was looking for, which is good. I'd gotten a Thai style shirt in Indo a few years back and loved it. But it started wearing out and I've not been able to locate more. Figured this was a good place to check, and turned out to be correct. Crys found some interesting clothes as well, and we got a few random souvenirs. There were plenty of souveneer type things to be had, as well as pet supplies (you would not believe some of the things people will buy for their pets here), pets themselves, woodwork, iron work, pots and pans, general supplies, fruits, and many many more.

We grabbed food from a local vendor inside the market. This time we had a bit more localized meal, with a "lamb burger" in a wrap. Tasty stuff! The market over all was teaming with people, and there was definitely some interesting people watching to be had. This is a very global area with a diverse group of inhabitants. 

   The plan this eve is to walk about some more in the areas around our hotel. Given how exhausted we all are after today, we'll see if we make it further than getting food or not. 

Tomorrow, we head for the train. From there we may have a slight change of plans in that we may continue past Hat Yai and go to Alor Setar Malaysia. Apparently it's far easier to catch a ferry to Langkawi from there. We'll see. If we get up early enough we may work in some more sight seeing. I would still like to catch one of the Buddhist temples while we're here.

That's it for now. I'll jump back on later!

After 1 Partial Night in Bangkok

Well, fell asleep around 2:30ish, woke up around 7:30am. Guess with what I got on the plane (bout an hour or so on the long leg, maybe three or four on the last leg) it'll keep me going for a while. Observations after 1 night in Bangkok:

Leg 2 of the journey had us just above where the pets were. Luckily when the plane took off there was too much noise from the engines to hear them, but it was very odd hearing them.

Leg 2 also had the never before heard broadcast line of "if there is a doctor on board please come to the err of the plane". Guess that is better than heading to the front. Apparently it wasn't anything too serious, or at least if it was they hid it well. Judging by the response we had at least five doctors on board.

Had forgotten about having to clear security again in Tokyo. Annoyingly slow, but I suppose gave us something to do during a good portion of our layover. Would have preferred to have looked around the stores instead.

Longer flights essentially have a Netflix option now, where you can just choose from about 30 films from new to old, as well as a handful of tv shows. Better way of passing the time from the old days.

Bangkok had the easiest customs I've ever seen. Nothing to declare? Okay, just don't stop then. Weird.

Getting a taxi from the airport was extremely easy and ridiculously more expensive than I expected.  You go up to the taxi kiosk, tell them where you want to go, they tell you how much it is and you pay them, then they have someone take you to the car. Spent 22000 bat, which turned out to be most of the $80 we had changed over. They did put us in a BMW though, and it was about a half our drive in very little traffic on a toll road, which suggests it's probably not that much different price wise than Austin, and there probably are cheaper alternatives if you know enough to ask about them.

The hotel is sparse but clean and comfortable. We have interwebs here but last night at least it seemed to be about 28.8.. Ridiculously slow.

The road we're on reminded me a little of New York last night in that it was hustling and bustling with people of all ages and nationalities at 1:30am this morning we came through.

Alright, that's what I have for now. Time to jump through the shower then see if I can get some food around here. Update you folks soon!

T Minus

We should be boarding in about 12 hours. 

I've got most everything except the electronics packed up. They're all charging. Crys is mostly packed as well, though being less experienced in long travels is convinced she's forgetting everything and frantically looking around just in case. Crys's mom will be over in a couple of hours. Big thanks to her, as she's agreed to crash here tonight then take us to the airport at god awful o'clock in the morn.

The trick tonight will be to get enough sleep tonight to function tomorrow, but not so much that we can't take a good long nap once we get on the flight from Atlanta to Japan. That will be our longest leg, and a good place to start convincing our bodies that it really is 13hrs later than it thinks it is. Always an interesting trick. 

Here's hoping for a smooth trip, with few airline annoyances. I'll try and do a quick check in once we're in the hotel (City Lodge Sukhumvit 9 Hotel), assuming I'm not too brain dead to figure out their wifi setup. Wish us luck folks, and we'll see you all on the other side of the world.

Thai Trip Pt3 - The Open Water

Okay, so technically this part of the trip isn't Thailand but Malaysia. Langkawi to be exact.  Once we arrive there, we'll spend our time in one of two boats, sailing about doing some diving, snorkeling, free diving, island hopping, and generally enjoying the life of the open sea. Should be amazingly relaxing and I cannot wait. I spent a week on a boat off the coast of Java a few years back and absolutely loved it. This should be just as fun or more.

The boat we'll most likely spend most of our time on is the Silkei. Here's an idea of what it looks like (FYI, my stepmom's the one in the red shirt and white pants):

We may also spend a bit of time on the time on the Lady Kathleen as well. Here's a few shots of it:

Both are supposed to be very comfortable to stay in, and either will get us into some absolutely gorgeous areas. Crys and I are both very excited. Should be a nice change of pace from the freezing temps Austin is currently experiencing. I'm not certain how often we'll be near internet access, but I plan to continue writing these on my iPad throughout the trip, and I'll post them as we get access.

Thai Trip Pt2 - Plan of the Bangkok Leg

So we arrive in Bangkok at around midnight. That'll be around 11am Tx time, but with the insanity of the flights I expect Crys and I will both be pretty close to exhausted by that point. After we escape customs, we'll catch a cab to the hotel that's supposed to be booked for us, and where my step-mother Barbara is to be waiting. I suspect that will put us there somewhere close to 1am local time. With any luck we'll fall asleep shortly there after, getting a head start on getting rid of the inevitable jet lag.

Saturday we'll head out with Barbara or a day of sight seeing and to test just how accurate the old Murray Head song turns out to be (maybe Crys and I will get in a game of chess...).  One destination Barb wants to take us to is the Chatuchak or Weekend Market. Apparently covering about 28 acres and having around eight to ten thousand stalls, they say you can find just about anything there. If that's not enough shopping we may hit the floating market as well. I'd also like to see a few of the temples while we're there. The Reclining Buddha perhaps? And of course, we plan to eat as much local cuisine as we can get a hold of. Thai food in Thailand? Yes please. We'll plan to spend another day or two (or more perhaps) in Bangkok on our way back, but even so I doubt we'll hit a fraction of what we would like to see.

Sunday, no doubt after a wee bit more site seeing, we'll head for the train. The train leg looks like it will be very nice, as we meander our way along the coastline down to southern Thailand. This is the route we're looking at:

It'll be Crys's first time on a train, and it looks like it'll be a great one to ride. We'll leave out of Bangkok and head for Hat Yai. The trains leave between 1pm and 3pm and arrive between 7am and 9am respectively. By the time we arrive we'll have travelled about 588 miles. Roughly the same as driving from Austin Tx to Ruidoso Downs New Mexico (though the sleeper car will make the trip far more comfy).  From there we'll get a car and drive across to Satun, Thailand:

From there we catch a ferry out to Langkawi, Malaysia. That's where the second leg of our trip begins. I'll do another post for that one!

Thai Trip Pt 1 - The Boring Details

All is booked. We fly out of Austin at 8am Jan24 on our way to Atlanta. We'll swap planes there and take off around noon headed for Tokyo Narita airport. If all goes according to plan, we'll leave there two hours later on our flight to Bangkok, arriving at 11:55pm local time Friday Jan 25. Since Bangkok is 13hrs ahead of time, we're looking at approximately 30hrs from the time we walk into Austin airport to the time we walk out of Bankok airport (give or take time for customs).

The return leg puts us leaving Bangkok at 5:55am Sunday Feb 10, then flying to Tokyo-Narita again, this time heading to St Paul before dropping back down to Austin at 8:15pm Sunday night.  The joys of time zone differences means we take two days to get there but only one to get back.

I look forward to neither of these portions of the trip. I've flown globally for about 15 years, and while the entertainment has gotten much better, the accommodations have faltered. As few flights fly, more people are now being packed onto the flights you can get. Airlines have also determined that they can cram more seats into their planes by taking away any and all leg room, unless you want to pay the extra hundred dollars per flight per person to get the extra 4inches of legroom back that used to be considered standard. We won't even discuss airport security. Very obnoxious. That being said, it's worth the obnoxiousness to reach the destination, so I'll keep putting up with it. Speaking of which, I'll share the plans in the next post!

In Which We Begin Again

Welcome folks!

It has been many years since I had a blog. Life has a way of keeping one busy, and if you let it you can quickly find yourself not doing the things you really want to do. That is how I came to find myself  taking an unintentionally long break from writing. A wonderful wife, a hectic job, and more distractions than I can count resulted in very little being written outside the corporate world.

 Last year I decided to change that.  I knew I missed creative writing, but until I started back I had no idea how much. I completed the first book of what will likely be a trilogy, and so far have gotten good feedback from it. I'm currently alternating between editing it and writing book two. With a bit of luck and a lot of persistence, you'll hear more about that in the future.

My other true passion is travel. I love to explore, see new things, and collect new stories as much as I enjoy telling stories. I've been to various spots around the U.S., taken a road trip from Texas to Alaska, travelled around Indonesia, spent some time in Australia, and passed through Japan and Tai Pei. In those places I've been lucky enough to see and do many things that others would not dream of doing. My last blog, many years ago, was a travel blog. This will include much the same. In fact, the decision to start this back up stems from an upcoming trip that will take me and my lovely wife Crystal to Thailand and Malaysia. The journey begins soon, and I look forward to sharing the stories I collect with you. Thanks for tuning in.